COLUMN: The online life for me?

From Ariel Horn's, "Candy from a Stranger," Fall '00 From Ariel Horn's, "Candy from a Stranger," Fall '00There are many types of men in the world. One is blue. He lives in a blue house with a blue window. Blue is the color of all that he wears. He has a girlfriend and she is so blue. He is DotComGuy. And his life is the Internet. In a clever publicity stunt by several online companies, DotComGuy will eat, drink, sleep and live the Internet life for exactly one year, supporting himself by reviewing Web sites. Move over, Ricky Martin. La Vida Loca is over. As of January 1, 2000, this ordinary twenty-something guy, a former corporate computing drone, legally changed his name to "DotComGuy." And ever since, DotComGuy has vowed to live a life of seclusion for exactly one year in his home with only his modem as his vehicle to the outside world. DotComGuy, in short, is living the Internet's closest answer to monastic life by taking his vows of abstinence from what is commonly understood to be everyday human reality. Though many of us perhaps think that being the color blue for our entire lives might be more palpable, DotComGuy happily insists in interviews that the Internet can meet all his needs. In fact, he has already received several marriage proposals via his Web site. His one complaint? He has trouble finding shoes to order on the Internet. Other than that, DotComGuy appears to be one of the happiest guys on Earth. Certainly one of the happiest online. DotComGuy's very existence sustained by the Internet suggests to us the daunting reality that becoming a computer nerd is not just about going to an engineering school and getting a job at an Internet start-up company. The level of computer nerd has instead reached epic proportions. DotComGuy's lifestyle shows an extreme way of living that is both strange and exciting, psychotic and intriguing. We end up thinking, "Wow, this DotComGuy is a real loser!" At the same time, though, we wonder, "Can someone really live like that?" And this is our future. In the wake of virtual and technical life, will we forget that once we actually existed in a "real" world? Though no student at Penn has yet the option to take purely online classes for credit for an entire semester, it's not a stretch to wonder if this option is that far away. If DotComGuy can live exclusively on the Internet for a year, can we, as students, learn exclusively on the Internet? Penn hasn't wasted any time in terms of technology. Online orientation classes for freshmen accepted via early decision began two years ago. Endless messages from class listservs plague all of our e-mail inboxes. And the newest innovation, "Blackboard," enables students to go into a chatroom created specifically for their class at certain hours of the day and chat online about class material and questions they have for the professor -- for all intents and purposes, "virtual" office hours. As far as technology is concerned, Penn is a forerunner in embracing the values of the e-world for e-ducational value. But when is it too much? How much technology can the classroom take until our lives slowly morph into the life of DotComGuy? Will there be a time when all of our classes are online and when none of us actually have to live on Penn's campus to attend Penn? If that should happen, the institution would suffer. There is a certain value to walking in the cold and getting windburn while heading to Williams Hall to see a professor during office hours. There is a certain value to sitting in a classroom and waiting to be called on rather than e-mailing a listserv. Face-to-face education has a certain value that can never be achieved online. Though DotComGuy would argue otherwise, there is a certain value to living a real life over a virtual one. Without question, online education has its merits -- it offers university-level classes and experiences to students who don't necessarily have the time or the financial means to enroll in a university or go to classes. But online education can only be a success if people still remember how to interact with one another in real life, rather than finding potential wives through Web sites (Try http://russianwives.com). Penn has successfully done this; students have online options but still have day-to-day contact with professors. But as "Blackboard" programs and listservs become more ubiquitous, universities run the risk of losing personalized education. Although there's a lot of living that goes on through the Internet, there's a lot more living going on in real life. We need to appreciate that. There are many types of men in the world. One is online. He lives in an online house, with Windows 98. And of course, he has a girlfriend. And she is online.